Freedom To Exploit

Just what Canada needs, more freedoms for its already-freedom-surfeit population. We can only hope that what the prognosticators of doom and gloom prophesied when Canada legitimized gay marriages, that a slippery slope had been engineered toward the introduction of legalization of other types of marriages - such as polygamy - would merely be a matter of time before becoming reality.

Same-sex marriage seemed such an absurdly unnecessary burden for this society to embrace, to begin with. To some, in any event; not those who embraced it so whole-heartedly. True, the gay and trans-gendered community had suffered greatly over the years, and it was past time for society to accept them as they were. But why it was seen as necessary to submit to juvenile demands for parity in the marriage contract is beyond ken.

With guarantees under the law, and social-political guarantees relating to property, insurance and retirement benefits, among others, it would seem sensible to just let matters rest right there. Why the anomaly of two men or two women setting up house together to be given the sanction of 'marriage' and to insist that only this investment in expanding society's norms would suffice?

Well, it's done, and little thought given to it after the fact. But for the nuisance factor and downright inexplicable fact that some gays seek to prosecute religious figures who don't sufficiently respect their social-legal entitlements, adding another lunatic dimension to society's grumbling acquiescences to childishly unjust demands disadvantaging some while advantaging others.

Now a test case to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada, from Bountiful, B.C. lawyers for fundamentalist Mormon Winston Blackmore, whose open practise of polygamy and the sexual exploitation of young girls will bring us to yet another, far worse conundrum. A liberal democratic society whose values distinctly exclude such social anomalies as polygamy may be faced with the prospect of accepting it.

A bitter pill indeed for an unsuspecting population led down the garden path to perdition. Children within fundamentalist communities, along with their mothers, aunts and grandmothers become fodder for the sexual gratification of the older, established men who have taken steps to disadvantage and displace young males who might inconveniently challenge their predilection for collecting multiple wives.

Child brides serving a lifetime of serfdom to a male's desire for multiple sexual companions under the newly defensible characterization of 'freedom of religion'. And then of course there's the contiguous situation of immigrants from societies and religions that espouse and accept polygamy, bringing their habits with them, legally, to Canada.

The Supreme Court of Canada urgently requires a remedial crash course in fundamental intelligence before it embarks on a legally discerning interpretation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.